The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-05-03

time. If we were compelled To remain
on the berg the bear meat would be a /
godsend to us. Every man had this re-
Election, but no man gave utterance 10
his thoughts. We cracked jokes and
tried to be cheerful. and, could sixth
man have looked i'm on Us, he would
nave said We were ENJOYING our
selves immensely. The big skins
were spread on the floor of our
Ice cave, the carcasscS cut up i'm handy
pieces, and when darkness fell upon the
ocean we lay down side 10y side without
having eaten or drank, and were soon
asleep. / had knocked about in all
sorts of crafts and had sailed I'm all
seas. and peril was no new thing To me.
When | lay down / had Ia admit to
myself that the present situation had
never been equaled. and | forced my
thoughts into other channels. Had
began figuring on our chances ] should
have gone wild. lay next to Mr..
Wharton. and perhaps. a. | was falling
into dozc, may have whispered
something to myself. for he laid his
hand OH my shoulder, put his mouth
close 10 my ear. and softly said:
Nelson, whatever you think of the
situation, say nothing to any of the
rest. The gale is blowing up great
guns. and God only knows what may
happen to us even before midnight"
"rm thinking the ship will take us
off tomorrow. sir" l answered.
Il hope so, hope SO. Let's go. to
sleep and not worry"
After that VIC all slept, hut an hour
before daylight we were aroused by
such shock and crash rs made us be-
lieve that the heavens and the earth
had come together. We sprang up
with shouts of alarm. no one rcmcm-
bering for the moment just where we
were. Then there came more grind
inu and crunching and crushing, and
directly after SIat all WAS still except
the bowling of the gale, and we were
driving along ~ quietly a. before
We've had collision with another
berg" explained the mate. aud |
think all danger has passed.
He advised us la return Ia our sleep,
but every man had hail enough, and
every eve was wide open when the first
signs of daylight appeared. The fall
of snow was not ~ heavy, although we
could not have seen second berg as
large as ours half mile away. but the
wind was blowing a living gale and
held steady from the old quarter. The
mercury had dropped to zero or lower
but the great skins under Us had KEEP
: us comfortable through the night W.
sat and looked out on the storm anC
! troubled sea for long time before an!
man moved or made suggestion
, Then, when day had fully dawned, tn
mate said:
well, men, Nothing is ever as ba'
, "a it looks ut first sight. The storm
can't last the day out, and you may b
: sure the ship will not lowerfor anothe
whale until she overhauls US. View
: cot bread and meat. and we'll try for
1 fire."
r He was the first man out of the cave
e l expect we'd all been preparing ouI
D selves to find the boat smashed to spin
1 tiers or gone entirely, for when MI
;; Wharton called that she was all right
4 a great load was lifted from our minds
t To get a fire We must have wood, an
to get wood, as was soon realized, W
9 must sacrifice some portion of the boa
, The door to the locker in the sterr
r sheets was unhinged, and couple
o the men fell to and made shavings an
e kindlines of it. Then some of the el
r trails and fat were cut up into sma
> pieces and we started fire at the doc
e of our cave. As soon Is the kindlins
l. were alight we put on pieces OF fat' al
re- there was a cheer all around rs Il
1t fire began to blaze up and throw o
N its warmth. Then we fell to, each m;
ID for himself, and cut off as much meat
5. we wanted, and held il over the bla
4, on splinters. Despite the poor roastil
ST and the absence of salt We made
De hearty meal, and the fire was so
he after smothered out. In clear wealth
re II would have sent out smoke to
d seen twenty miles from the crow $ NJ
Id of whaler, but with that thick atm
n phere shutting us in it was simply bul
Ut ing up precious fuel for nothing.
We Although it had been showing for
es many hours, and showing in way
ID have made drifts ten feet high on laI
ot .,,.; l;,tla NJ II had remained on
of berg, owing, of course, To the nj
Is. winds blowing over it. The m
ut gave us leave to scatter for a lc
70 around, though warning us aSai
,r. taking any chances, and present.,
its found myself in his company as
he walked part way along the length
to the shelf and came To a spot vi
at which we could climb with
cir promise of a view to windward.